Here's a dance you can do on a dime

This is one of the dirtiest records I’ve ever heard. And it’s the cleaned up version!

Here’s the story from Jerry Leiber:

"We came in with "The Slime" and Jerry Wexler said "Man, that's a very noxious title. Please don't do that."

"We said, "But it's a send up. They're doing the Mashed Potato and the Slop. We want to top the Slop with the Slime!" He said, "I don't think you have to do that." So we changed the song to "The Climb." And in the end, it didn't really make much sense."

Here's a safe for airplay version. The horns make it worth hearing.

Are you ready

For the great atomic power?

Here's a blast from 1952.

One more thing to be thankful for

The dB’s third LP, LIKE THIS, is going to be available again! Collector’s Choice Music is set to release it in early 2006. New liner notes and pictures, two bonus tracks: the absolutely essential “Darby Hall” and the completely useless dance mix of “A Spy In The House Of Love.”

LIKE THIS was the dB’s first LP without band founder Chris Stamey and the first one released in America. It’s never been easy to find. Bearsville Records released it in 1984 but did not support the band and or distribute the LP widely. The label actually rejected the first version of the LP and tried to have the band re-do the whole thing with Todd Rundgren as producer. Fortunately, that didn’t work out. Bearsville Records went out of business shortly after and the LP disappeared. Rhino Records released LIKE THIS again in 1990 but didn’t keep it in print very long.

One of my favorite lines from any song ever is on this LP: “I can understand how you want a better man/but why do you want to him out of me?”

Things are gonna be slower than usual for a few days

Have a great Thanksgiving!

You better learn how to treat everybody,

You got to go down.

Sad news

R.I.P. Link Wray.

The great man died last week. He was 76.

Update: Link Wray was buried in Copenhagen on Friday.

UPDATE: AP finally noticed.

crazy times call for crazy music

...plus I'm hungry.

Joe Tex, "Chicken Crazy".

We got the party,

We got the party tonight.

Rock and roll my blues away

I found this LP at one of the WLRH record sales. I had never heard of the band but the cover is a great shot of three guys in “V” sweaters standing around a red Triumph. There are yellow and white arrows painted all around them on the brick driveway. I thought it was a mid 60’s mod group until I flipped the record over and saw that it came out all the way back in 1957. The cover is way ahead of it’s time.

If that wasn’t enough, the very first song is “Bikini Baby”. That (plus the .75 price tag) sold me. It’s a good record, mostly rockers and some sappy ballads that I hope were picked by the record company. And some yodeling.

The Versatones are usually called Doo-wop or R&B but they’re not really either one. The liner notes say that they have the “Rock-a-billy tempo” which I guess they do have. Some of these songs would not be out of place on some of Elvis’ albums. There still aren’t many black rockabilly trios around. Esp. ones that yodel.

The group formed in 1956 as part of the DePaur Infantry Chorus. Tenor John Greenwood had appeared in Carousel and Street Scene. Baritone bass Herbert Stubbs attended Juilliard on a scholarship, appeared in House Of Flowers and Carmen Jones. Baritone Ronald Chapman also played guitar and piano for the group.

There are several other Versatones around (including a polka band) so I don’t know if these guys did anything after the 45 in 1958. In the mid-sixties, there was a soul group in Detroit called the Versatones. Is it the same guys? In 1959, there was a band called the Versatones in Washington state, they later changed their name to the Ventures.

Thanks to the great Reverend Frost for posting the Versatones “Bila/Tight Skirt and Sweater” 45 and reminding me that I had this LP. I’d forgotten all about it. The two tracks he posted came out in 1958 and are way better than anything on the LP. If you don't visit Spread The Good Word often, you're missing some good stuff. Happy Anniversary!

Be my guest, you got nothing to lose

Maybe Huey "Piano" Smith was seasick when they recorded this one.

Does anybody have the version with Bobby Marchan singing? I'd like to hear that.

But I've never felt better in my life

Huey “Piano” Smith must not have taken very good care of himself in the late Fifties. Smith had a respiratory disease and a viral infection (with a relapse of both). Then he developed hypertension followed by a sudden cold. Finally, Smith ended up with a bacterial infection with secondary nasal problems (that could be mistaken for another attack of the respiratory disease if you weren’t paying very close attention).

And they all had a good beat and you could dance to them.

I'm Gonna Run

To the city of refuge.

Don't shut your heart out

Don't cry your eyes out.

Who is singing backup on this song?

The Great New Guitar Sounds

This was one of the first records I bought just because it looked interesting. The name of the LP - FREAKOUT!! - catches your eye and the cute girl on the cover keeps it. I found the record at the Superflea Flea Market on 23rd Street in Chattanooga in 1985 or so.

The music is pretty good, a few covers of popular hits and some great originals. There are no credits at all, no songwriter or publisher names, no musician’s names or production credits – nothing. The band doesn't even have a name. I don’t know who played this stuff but I bet these songs are tapes of studio musicians fooling around in the studio. The guitarist is trying to sound like Link Wray on this song. Actually, the whole record sounds like the kinda stuff the Phantom Surfers would be doing thirty years later.

Spinorama Records specialized in cash-in records designed to look like popular records. I’ve seen a discography of the label that says this came out in ’65. Some of it was recorded earlier than that.

I’ve seen this record going for thirty bucks. It’s not worth that but I’m not selling my copy either.

I Thought I'd Forget

Here’s a 45 by a Huntsville band from ’66. They’re called the Wombats and at least one of them went on to play in a band called the Poor Souls. Both bands released one record each on the Woodrich label. Woody Richardson’s label released a bunch of records by North Alabama/Central Tennessee acts in the mid-60’s, mostly gospel with the occasional garage band thrown in. That’s pretty much all I know so far. More details soon (I hope).

If these wings should fail me,

won't you meet me with another pair.

What we're gonna do here is go back

Way back. Back into time.

Garage Sale, Final Day

The Not Quite - Paint Me In A Corner (Wethersfield, CT)

The Things - Girls In The World (L.A.)

The Fuzztones - Cinderella (NYC)

The Unclaimed - Walk On The Water (L.A.)

Wildfang, The Band With 1,001 Names - Like Ringo (Brooklyn, NY)

Hope you enjoyed it!

Garage Sale, Day 3

The Pandoras - Hot Generation (Hollywood, CA)

The Fourgiven - Spiders In My Sink (Hollwood, CA)

The Shoutless - I Tell No Lies (Stockholm, Sweden)

The Cheepskates - Read Your Mind (NYC)

The Aromatics - Maureen (Providence, RI)

Garage Sale, Day 2

I tried to find something about each of the bands. It wasn't easy, some of the bands were obscure when they were still together. This tape was the only time I ever heard of the Addition or the Trip.

The Boys From Nowhere - Beg (Columbus, Ohio)

The Mystic Eyes - I Lost My World (Buffalo, NY)

The Addition - Obnoxious Girls (Minneapolis)

The Tell-Tale Hearts - That's Your Problem (San Diego)

The Crickle - Place In My Heart (Chicago)